background artwork: marco mazzoni featured in Hi-Fructose Magazine
I’ve heard about the wonders of Fresh’s Sugar Lip Treatment for years; Must-Have Makeup Basic! Beauty Editor favorite! Celebrity Staple! As an avid magazine reader and beauty product freak, all of those things *should* have seduced me to buy. Sure, I’ve gotten nanoseconds away from point of purchase with a box of Lip Treatment in my hand, but the punishing price tag always won in the end. How many times have I ceremoniously dump it, with the other expensive, homeless glosses, back into the impulse buy bins that surround Sephora’s registers? Dozens? ”There should be no justifiable reason for which a person of modest means should pay that much for lip tint,” I could hear my mother saying in my head. And she would be right–there are concert tickets, parties, life-changing experiences to be had at that price.
But this year, something changed. See, all those last minute grabs from Sephora’s impulse buy bins hadn’t gotten the actual product in my hands–I was only carrying the box it was packaged in. Once I discovered what exactly was inside, the lip treatment categorically shifted from splurge to essential investment within seconds. Yes, the product is as good as they say–it nourishes chapped, cracked and dry lips while livening up the pucker with a hint of color. And, yum, it smells faintly of sugar-spiked lemonade made by go-getter kids in American suburbs. But past the nostalgia and functionality, what sold me on the gloss is the so-sensible-it’s-genius packaging.
First, the stuff isn’t packaged in a pot (which requires clean fingers for dipping–something impossible to maintain when on the go). Instead, it’s housed in a substantial but pretty tube that’s been dipped in washed-out metallic shades. The tip of the tint is round and flat, not angled like a lipstick, which is perfect, because we’re our bombing the lips with the stuff, not precisely applying it like with a rich, matte color. But the pièce de résistanceis its screw-top lid (shown in the pic above). Once that sucker is secure, there is absolutely zero chance that the honey, plum, or rose’ tint will end up on the bottom of my supple Italian leather bag. Suddenly the price tag seemed perfectly practical–I’m not just buying a lip product here, I’m paying for thoughtful design. And in a culture riddled with half-assed production (Horrible Bosses, phones that block signals when you hold them, anal-leakage causing reduced fat potato chips), good design is a pleasure to pay for.
Designer-turned-artist Helmut Lang is sending a final kiss-off to the fashion world by shredding the last 6,000 dresses in his personal inventory. While this sounds totally sacrilege to us, all is not lost: the artist will use the fabrics–along with fur, feathers, leather and more materials collected during his 25-year tenure as a designer–to make stalactite-influenced** ground-to-ceiling sculptures for a new gallery exhibition in East Hampton NY. The show, called “Make it Hard,” will run at The Fireplace Project from July 22 to August 8; it’s aimed to serve as his final sayonara to fashion and hello, again to art.
**stalactites are the drippy-looking columns that hang from the ceilings of limestone caves. They look like this:
Two of my favorite things Chanel’s beauty line directed by Peter Philips meets ROBOTS (another longtime obsession). In short I heart this video and me thinks you will too! Enjoy!!
For the girls who hung on every word of the September Issue (2009), who couldn’t get enough of Isaac Mizrahi’s Issac-isms in Unzipped (1995) and for model Sara Ziff’s Picture Me (2009) offered a much-welcomed peep into the big baller but less-than-kind world of modeling, comes God Save My Shoes, a soon-to-be released documentary about that game-changing wardrobe staple that girls will do just about anything for.
As I wrote in Fashion 101, shoes forever hold a special place in girls’ hearts. The average American owns 30 pair. When SATC fashion icon Carrie Bradshaw was mugged, the assailant demanded not only her handbag and jewelry, but her strappy sandals to boot.
The obsession traces back to the mid 16th century, when Henry II’s wife, Catherine de’ Medici, discovered high heels (traditionally only worn by men). She loved how the new shoes made her look taller, thinner, more fabulous. Ever since, women have found that heels give an instant posture makeover. Our chests stand taller, our legs appear longer and our butts get a nice little lift–pretty rockin’ results for just a simple change in footwear.
Of course, God Save My Shoes documentarian Julie Benasra features footage from modern day royalty (celebs, of course) on why shoes make them feel so fab. Look for cameos by Fergie, Kelly Roland, Dita Von Teese and more. The film is scheduled to be released later this year.
Word on the street from Paramount is that the Hot Hot Hoti-ness that is Mark Wahlberg will team up with dreamy Biebs in a film that will feature the boys playing street basketball. Um…sa-woon! The script is being written by Ian Edelman, who created the HBO series How to Make it in America.
The last streetball flick to make it big was the 1992 Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson vehicle, White Men Can’t Jump. Being that the Biebs counts streetball as one of his favorite pastimes, moviegoers will no doubt freak to see his skills on the big screen. But no matter how good his A game, it’ll be the inevitable shirtless scenes (what? it’s totally part of the sport!) that will send Beliebers in a frenzy. Just don’t hold your breath for its release–according to IMDB, it’s not scheduled to hit theaters until 2013.
I’m so stoked on the wallpaper I just ordered for my new office. Ima use it to cover the massive inspiration/reminder/cute boys board I’ve got above my desk.
Cute, right? It’s called Crowns & Coronets and it’s made by Graham & Brown. IJust had to share.
Of course it features lots of ladies from The Look Book, including a great shot of Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly (Naturally, she’s captured sporting her signature chignon. Directions for getting her look are featured in The Look Book, BTW.) at the 1956 Oscars and one of The Look Book icon Sophia Loren giving fellow bombshell Jayne Mansfield the eye.
So this edition of Stoked On is a double whammy, because of the cool Kermie kicks I found while delightfully lost in the fabulous new Snekerpedia!!!
Sneakerpedia is a brand-spankin’ new wiki where sneaker freaks can chronicle their shoe collections–from super rare Reebok Ventilator Miami Vice editions to classic and awesome Christian Hosoi high top skate shoes (which I’d almost kill for and are pictured above). What’s more, you can vote to help elevate the sickest pair to “most loved” or “most owned” status.
Even though the site launched just a few weeks ago, there are mad, mad kicks already up for your viewing pleasure. (If you’ve seen Just For Kicks, a sneaker doc that’s streaming on Netflix, BTW, you *know* that sneaker lovers don’t mess around). You could easily loose hours just trying to look at them all. Luckly, there’s a filter set up to help limit your perusing. (I”m more of an Adidas girl than a Nike one, so that filter alone cuts right to the chase.)
And that, my friends, is how I happened upon the Adicolor Stan Smiths that celebrate on of the OTHER thing I’m stoked on right now: The New Muppets Movie!!
